


it's time to spend the night away

by ferrassie



Category: Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 15:28:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ferrassie/pseuds/ferrassie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ferris looks at Cameron later that night, when the sweat's dried to a dull shine and the tense lines under his skin seem to have relaxed. He's caught off-guard, really. It's always the other way around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it's time to spend the night away

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SQ (proteinscollide)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/proteinscollide/gifts).



Ferris looks at Cameron later that night, when the sweat's dried to a dull shine and the tense lines under his skin seem to have relaxed. He's caught off-guard, really. It's always the other way around: Cameron and his elastic faces, his voice that pitches up and down, the nervous shake of his hands that climbs up into his shoulders. Ferris throws him off-balance. 

In a good way, he likes to think. 

He may have just found a great way.

 

Cameron goes away to State while Ferris is stuck in Chicago at community college with a timetable of mismatched classes: Introduction to Film Studies, Advanced Theatre, Human Anatomy, Critical Reading and Writing, History of the American Civil War. Cameron snorts when he tells him, but it's not mean. He can see Cameron leaning up against the wall by his floor's payphone. Probably's flattened himself there.

"What'd you manage to register for?"

Business and management classes. Ferris knew that. He could see the straight line of Cameron's life the moment he met him. The lack that would always be there. He's surprised, though, when Cameron finishes with, "and Beginner French."

Ferris raises his eyebrows, but he doesn't say anything. He likes when Cameron introduces variables.

"What?" Cameron asks, voice sharp and defensive.

"Nothing. I'm proud of you."

Ferris can see him looking indignant. The obvious jolt of his body. "Shut up."

 

Cameron calls him, if only because Ferris is still at home with stand-in message managers. He's watching _Coming Home_ when the phone rings – TV loud and the picture snowing out. Homework's easy when he can watch it, when he's able to see faces and listen to their mesh of voices. Mr. Dedrick's English classes a cruel trick in comparison. He can see Cameron against that same wall, crossed ankles, when his mom calls up to him.

Cameron snorts. "Fuck off." He says it quietly, conscious. Ferris grins at Jane Fonda on-screen.

"That all you call to tell me? Okay, then, talk to you Tuesday. Don't hurt yourself jerking off in the showers."

He's pretty sure that was Cameron's elbow bumping into the wall. "Why do I even call you? Fine, I didn't want to see you at Thanksgiving, anyways."

"You're home for break, then?" Ferris didn't expect anything less – Cameron's the most dutiful son he's pretty sure any family could have and he's even talking about before he sent his dad's Ferrari crashing. It's just more fun for him to string Cameron along and get him to believe he's surprised.

Ferris thinks he can hear Cameron's chin scraping across the receiver (stubble, less likely). "Yeah, five days all together." He pauses there.

There's more than that. Ferris taps his fingers against the inside of his knee. A commercial for toothpaste turns into one for fruit juice. 

He says, "Cameron," as he says, "Ferris."

"What's her name?" Ferris asks. Bites his lip, giving Cameron time to blush about it, cough, and move his weight from foot to foot. It's the same routine as when Cameron had to deal with the cute librarian. 

"Margot. She's in my Accounting class. She's on-campus, too. She's nice."

Ferris can see the awkward curl of his shoulders. Cameron's all angles. "Is she?"

He worries about Cameron.

"Yeah. She's nice and she's pretty. To me."

A lot.

Jon Voight makes a pained noise, sound fizzing out. Ferris puts his fingers to his chin. Cameron's definitely done that before.

 

He doesn't really think about Cameron day-to-day. There are times, obviously, when he sees something and thinks _Cameron_ , but it's not that often. Usually, Sloane'll bring him up in between talking about the American Revolution and _Frankenstein_ , nails tapping against the porcelain of a coffee cup.

"How's Cameron doing?" and, when he fills her in, he doesn't think much about it. That way, he doesn't have to worry about Cameron being stupidly lovesick and desperate, alone, in his dorm-room. Doesn't have to subtract another two or three days until November, hoping he'll come home first, before he convinces himself to man up. It's probably better that he and Sloane are friends now, if he's being like this.

He twists the straw in his Coke and asks Sloane about her new part-time job, retail, and listens to her tell a story about the manager she already hates.

 

Ferris passes his Film Studies midterm just six points shy of a hundred. He stares down at the handful of paper briefly before he shoves it in his bag, looking around. The boy and girl beside him aren't paying him any attention, too absorbed in their own tests.

He slumps down farther in his seat and lets himself be pleased.

 

Cameron calls at around midnight, Jeanie coming out of her room to glare at him. Although, that is happening less and less nowadays.

"Keep it down when you're talking to your boyfriend." She rolls her eyes, arms crossed.

"Well, you know how I get," he says as she closes her door. _Whatever_ filtering through the wall.

Ferris grabs the phone. "Hey, what's up?" He's already bracing himself for some neurotic panic about an exam or a paper. It's almost calming.

Cameron laughs into the phone. "Guess what?" It's smooth around the edges. "I passed, I passed my Accounting midterm." It bubbles up into a laugh again. Ferris is amused, but mostly annoyed that he's not there to see Cameron through his first bought of drinking.

"Good for you." He turns onto his side. Not sure what Cameron's in the mood for.

He's actually _drunk_.

He can see Cameron nodding. "Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Thank you." He says something away from the phone. Maybe to someone else. Ferris strains to hear. "How was your test? Your TV one?"

He pulls his knees up to his chest. "It was okay."

Cameron makes an exaggerated sympathetic noise. "You'll do better. You'll do okay. Next time. It's all about next time."

"Thanks, man."

 

When he wakes up, Cameron's sitting on the end of his bed. He's slumped over himself and asleep. Ferris looks at him for a moment, resting up on his shoulder. Fuzzy through leftover sleep. He reaches out with his foot and jostles Cameron.

He all but falls off the bed.

"What was that for?" Cameron practically yells. Hands white-knuckled in the sheets. He looks stricken. He looks exactly the way Ferris likes to remember him. Perfectly the same.

Ferris sits up more fully, shrugs. "What're you doing here already?"

"Change of plans. My parents came to get me last night." Cameron shrugs. "It's like they really missed me or something." Eyes downcast. Cameron's fingers interlock with one another. "Your mom let me in."

Ferris nods. His comforter slips down to his waist and Cameron turns to look at him then, swallowing. He's not necessarily used to this unabated silence, not with him, Ferris can tell.

He looks uncomfortable. This time apart seems to have lessened his presence. He thought he had done better than that.

Ferris nods. "Figured." Cameron looks away from him, at the posters stretched out against the wall; either barely clinging or firmly-stuck. It's a little weird for Ferris, too. "Hey," he says, "come here."

Cameron makes a huffing noise.

"Don't give me that," Ferris says. He extends his hands. Cameron gives him a judgmental-quizzical look (dutifully perfected, Ferris thinks). "C'mon." He gestures out, fingers touching his palms in quick succession.

"Fine," Cameron says. He moves upwards towards Ferris. "What?"

Ferris searches his face, takes in its smoothness and the tiny wrinkles across his forehead. There's a tightness to his mouth. Ferris reaches up, thumbs brushing against his jaw and leans in.

Cameron flails so hard he just about his him in the face. Ferris expected as much.

"Relax, would you," Ferris says as he pulls back.

"Really, relax?" Cameron makes a ridiculous face, eyes wide and mouth in a moue. He kisses him again.

He elbows Ferris in the chest – all sharp limbs – but it's an improvement. It's better.

 

Cameron is jumpy at breakfast. Jeanie's looking at the two of them, eyes squinted, as she keeps one arm tightly across her chest, her other hand grasping a piece of toast. Cameron knees the table when she reaches for her orange juice.

Ferris shakes his head and lifts his fork to his mouth.

"Why are you two so quiet?" Jeanie asks. She directs it at Ferris, she's looking at him, but he can tell that Cameron blanches.

Ferris shrugs. "No reason."

Jeanie chews her toast in a way that Cameron later describes as "suspicious".

 

"She knows something's up," Cameron says, lying across Ferris's bed. "She knows." His hands move above his chest. The corners of his mouth seem like they've dipped down even farther since he's been gone. Ferris keeps himself from reaching out.

"So, it's just Jeanie. She thinks everyone's up to something." He fits his hand against Cameron's hip. He tenses and Ferris is about to pull away when he feels Cameron relax underneath his palm. He shifts a little closer. "It's so that no one's suspicious of her."

Cameron shakes his head. "I don't think that's it."

Ferris wrinkles his nose. "You should probably spend less time thinking about my sister." He shifts himself up over Cameron, hardly covering his frame. Too tall. "Seriously, don't think about my sister."

He kisses Cameron then, pretty tamely by his standards, but it's good. Cameron's not trying to push him off and he's not hyperventilating into his mouth. He reaches down, laces his fingers with Cameron's and squeezes once. His grip stays light. He moves their hands up beside Cameron's head.

He makes a pleased noise and Ferris grins against his mouth. He still has to ask if it's okay, though, just to hear it.

"Yeah, you can." Cameron's eyebrows furrow. "More?"

Ferris nods. He trails one hand down Cameron's side and rucks his t-shirt up. "This kind of more?" Ferris's fingertips teasing at the button of Cameron's jeans. He can see that Cameron's already half-hard. He bites his lip and strokes the thin skin over his stomach with his thumb. Cameron arches into it.

He's comfortable and relaxed and Ferris is surprised. Cameron's eyes are closed, throat bared. Ferris didn't realize that he could be this exactly for Cameron. But he's happy it's him, that he's the one.

It's a good thing, like the way Cameron reaches up to grab his neck and pull their mouths together.

 

Ferris is amazed when he wakes up – entirely too early when he's on break – and Cameron is still there. He's sitting up, awake too. He has his clothes back on. His t-shirt hanging off of him. They watch each other for a moment.

"I'm gonna go," Cameron says, but he's smiling. It's not awkward.

Ferris smiles back. "Go get your girl."

Cameron shakes his head. "That's not what I meant." 

"I know." Ferris closes his eyes, curling onto his side.

Cameron kisses the side of his head, lingering. "Thanks."

**Author's Note:**

> when i was reading your author letter, i really liked the headcanon you established for cameron. so, i decided to write something in that direction. i hope you enjoyed it and i wish you a happy yuletide/holidays!


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